Sleeping Giant is dedicated to providing pertinent facts and the latest research and insight into the large and growing Asian Pacific American community. Sleeping Giant is produced by Imprenta Communications Group.

America’s families face a looming retirement crisis and it is worse for Asian-Americans and other communities of color than for whites. Millions of Asian-Americans work in low paid jobs located in high priced communities, but without benefits. Older Asian-Americans rely more on public assistance than any other population groups. Income and wealth inequality among Asian-Americans have also been rising over the past three decades. Many low-income and middle-income Asian-Americans then face a more dire prospect in retirement than their white counterparts.

News reports and research items often portray Asian-Americans as economically successful and secure. Yes, many Asian-Americans have substantial income and wealth, similar to that of whites. But using one number such as an average or even a median obscures the tremendous economic diversity of the Asian-American community and leads observers to ignore the widespread hardships that many older Asian-Americans face.

Asian-Americans, as the fastest growing racial group in the country, are also a very diverse population with a large and possibly growing share facing economic hardships in retirement. Asian-Americans come from many different cultural, social and political backgrounds. Some came to the US for economic opportunities, others to join their families and yet others fled persecution, war and violence at home. These varied experiences contribute to large economic differences across groups. Moreover, some families have been in the US for generations, while a large share are recent immigrants. Each generation, even within the same cultural and ethnic group, arrives in the US under its own unique circumstances, facing obstacles and discrimination for some but also good job opportunities for others. Economic experiences – income and wealth – can thus be different within the same group. Policymakers interested in promoting measures for greater retirement security will do well to understand the diversity and struggles within the Asian-American community.

In fact, many older Asian-Americans already face substantial financial insecurity. For example, a larger share of older Asian-Americans, 65 years old and above, relied on public cash assistance such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) in 2014 — more than any other demographic group. In 2014, 12.6% of older Asian-Americans received some public cash assistance and it amounted on average to 9.0% of their income. In comparison, only 3.5% of older whites got some public cash assistance for an average of 1.7% of their income that year.

Even with this greater reliance on public cash assistance, poverty among older Asian-Americans was more pronounced than among white. One-in-seven, 14.7%, of Asian-Americans 65 years old and older lived in poverty in 2014, compared to only 8.7% of whites– a gap of nearly 70%.

The growth in the income disparity is partially due to decades of stagnation in income levels for Asian-Americans in the bottom income brackets. The incomes of Asian-Americans at the 10th percentile grew by only 11% from 1970 to 2016, which is equal to an annual increase of less than 0.3%. These gains are less than for any other racial, ethnic and income group. This slow growth of incomes at the bottom of the income scale results from more immigration and fewer opportunities to get ahead for people with limited resources in the forms of education, savings and networks. Many new immigrants, especially from countries such as Myanmar and Bhutan end up working in low paying jobs with no benefits for long periods of time.

This massive gap in pension coverage is not offset by more savings in 401(k)s or IRAs for Asian-Americans. On the contrary, lower-income Asian-Americans were slightly less likely to have a retirement account from 2010 to 2016 – 32.5% compared to 33.1% for whites — and had smaller balances — $15,349 compared to $19,976 for whites . The likelihood of financial insecurity in old age will thus continue to be greater for Asian-Americans than for whites.

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Sleeping Giant is produced by Imprenta Communications Group, a California-based, award-winning public affairs, ethnic marketing, and campaign firm which specializes in reaching California's diverse audiences.

Imprenta was founded in 2001 by Ronald W. Wong, a political and communications strategist with more than 30 years of experience in marketing and political campaigns targeting Asian Pacific and Latino Americans. Ron has worked for Fortune 500 companies, served as Chief Deputy Appointments Secretary to Governor Gray Davis and in President Bill Clinton's Administration at the U.S. Department of Justice, Community Relations Services.

Imprenta was recently awarded the 2013 Asian Business Advocacy Award from the Los Angeles Business Journal, citing the company's "radical success and growth."

We develop and execute campaigns for Fortune 500 companies, candidates, causes, and initiatives that demand and expect to win. For the past 15 years, Imprenta has delivered measurable and quantifiable results for regulated companies, utilities, telecommunications, health care corporations, Foundations, major ballot initiatives, candidates for elected office, and public education campaigns for government entities. Imprenta specializes in reaching diverse underserved communities -- we understand the cultural and linguistic nuances that exist throughout our state.

"Imprenta will go above and beyond to win for its clients. As our nation becomes more and more diverse, ethnic communities, consumers and voters will be critical to anyone interested in shaping public opinion, running for office, or marketing goods and services. We speak the language of America."